


Please Don't Leave Me

by Cinnabunni



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Depressed Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore, During Canon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Kalos-chihou | Kalos Region (Pokemon), M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Sycamore and Diantha are twins and I will die for this headcanon, Team Flare (Pokemon), Team Flare Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore, This is probably one of my best works ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26538637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnabunni/pseuds/Cinnabunni
Summary: It was easy to feign all these emotions; to pretend to care, and say the right words and do the right acts at just the right time.He had fun doing it, too."Professor, Calem and I are going after him--he's in Geosenge right now! He's gonna activate the Ultimate Weapon!”Sycamore gave a nod. "You kids go on, I'll catch up!"And as the kids ran out of the building, Sycamore couldn't help but give a small, devilish grin, and followed the kids.This was going to be interesting.~~~In which Sycamore is apart of Team Flare from the very beginning.
Relationships: Calme | Calem & Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore & Serena, Carnet | Diantha & Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore, Fleur-de-lis | Lysandre & Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore, Fleur-de-lis | Lysandre/Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Please Don't Leave Me

“So, I’ve been thinking recently.”

Sycamore looked up from his textbooks, and met Lysandre’s eyes, a smirk forming on his face. “Oh, so you’ve finally started to think? That’s a first.” He laughed when Lysandre threw a pillow at him from the bed that he sat on. He turned back to the books and to the desk that was covered with different textbooks, papers, along with an empty mug that used to have coffee in it, and his laptop that was very close to overheating.

“No, I mean...I’ve been thinking about things. I’ve also been reading up on about the king of Kalos from three thousand years ago, about the Ultimate Weapon and all of that, so that had me thinking-”

“Wait, let me get this straight,” Sycamore interrupted, turning the chair over to face Lysandre. “So. Instead of doing, I don’t know, studying for the upcoming finals, at least helping _me_ studying because I’m pretty sure that I’m gonna flunk out, or hell, even working on that one project of yours, the Holo Caster or whatever, you decided to read about some event that happened three thousand years ago, that honestly probably doesn’t matter. _Pourquoi?”_

He gave a small chuckle. “I just found it interesting, was all. The reasoning behind it. He originally made it to restore his pokémon’s life. But then, he changed it into a weapon, and destroyed both sides of the war that was going on. And it got me thinking...what if I were able bring back the Ultimate Weapon?”

“And why would you want to do that, _chèri?_ ”

“Well, maybe I could-” Suddenly, cutting him off, Lysandre’s phone went off. “Just my alarm,” he mumbled, turning it off. Checking the time, he gave a sigh. “I should probably head back, I have classes in the morning.”

Sycamore gave a sigh. “Sad, I really wanted your help with studying.”

“Augustine, you never study,” he said, grabbing his coat. Sycamore only answered with a shrug. “Anyway, I’ll have to tell you about my plan another time.”

“Maybe we could talk about it over dinner,” Sycamore proposed, a cocky smile on his face.

“What, like a date?”

He gave another shrug. “I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you.”

Lysandre gave a smile, hand hovering over the doorknob. “Alright, a date it is, then.” 

~~~

“Lys, I’m going to fail Pokémon Biology!”

“Good evening to you too, _mon cher,”_ Lysandre greeted. Sycamore gave him a glare, and walked past him, entering the apartment.

“I’m gonna have to kiss my dreams of becoming a pokémon professor _au revoir,_ because it’s not happening!” he said, shrugging off his coat and hanging on a nearby chair, leaving him with just his black skinny jeans, and blood orange dress shirt that had the sleeves rolled up. “I mean, unless I pass this class, which won’t happen, I’m gonna lose the chance of getting this job.”

“If you wish, I could help you study after dinner,” Lysandre suggested. Sycamore brushed his poofy hair away from his eye (his hair was long enough to just rest above his eye, which he usually didn’t mind having it there, but at that point it was just getting annoying--he was debated whether or not if he should just start pulling it up into a ponytail).

“Yes, that would be very helpful, Lys. Now, didn’t you say we were going to continue to discuss your idea over dinner?”

“Yes, dinner should be done in a minute or two. You can just wait at the table, I’ll be there with the food in a bit.” Sycamore gave a single nod, and took a seat at the table. As he waited, Sycamore grew more and more uncomfortable. He always did, in a social situation like this, even if there was only one other person. 

“So,” Lysandre started, snapping Sycamore out from his thoughts, as he placed the plates of food down, “about my idea.”

“Ah, yes. You’re idea of bringing back an old weapon to destroy the world,” Sycamore joked, opening a bottle of wine. 

He gave a chuckle. “Yes, well, about that. What if the king of Kalos had the right idea? Of destroying and restarting, to create a new, better, more beautiful world.” Sycamore was silent, and Lysandre took that as a sign to continue. “The world is full of evil and disgusting things, is it not? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just get rid of it? To just...restart everything, make the world beautiful like it once was.” Lysandre stopped, waiting for Sycamore to say something. The longer the silence was, the more worried he got. Did Sycamore not like the idea? 

“I--never mind Augstine, it was-”

  
“I’m in,” he said, interrupting. He gave a smile. “What, did you seriously think that I would let you do this alone? Besides, the idea is certainly interesting, I can’t just _not_ join in on it. Though, It’ll probably have to be on the back burner for a while, I should probably focus on my work for now…”

“Oh yes, of course. I don’t expect you to just drop everything for this idea of mine, you should work towards becoming a professor.” Lysandre paused, and took a sip of wine. “Your blue dress shirt, I like that one better,” he said.

“Hm?”

“I prefer that over your red one,” he reiterated, “it brings out your eyes and your natural beauty more than this one.”

  
“First off, this is blood orange, not red. Second of all, I like this shirt, a lot more than the blue one.” Lysandre gave a hum, and took another sip of his wine.

“Nonetheless, I’m happy that you’re joining me on this. I don’t want to push too much onto you, especially since you should focus more on your studies. Besides, I also need to work on my own studies anyway, as well as the Holo Caster. I suppose I could do some research during my free time…” The rest of the date went smoothly, Lysandre talking about his plans, and ending it with him helping Sycamore out with his studying. He hoped that Sycamore would focus more on his studies--he would hate it if he flunked out of the class, or even lose his dream of becoming a pokémon professor. Though, he seemed more interested in Lysandre's ideas than actually studying.

“Tell me more about this Ultimate Weapon, _chèri,”_ he said, closing the textbook.

Lysandre gave a sigh, reached over, and opened the textbook. “August, you need to focus. Finals are coming up, and we should probably get to work.”

Sycamore gave a groan. “I would rather not, though. I wanna talk about _ton incroyable plan.”_

“We’ll do that _after_ we’re sure that you’ll get a passing grade on your finals,” he said. Sycamore gave a long sigh, but didn’t say anything to refute. He instead actually started to study, with Lysandre there to help him stay on track and not get distracted. Once he had felt confident with the lessons, did Lysandre leave.

He was happy that Sycamore was focusing on his career. His own goals could wait, he just wanted him to be happy and to work towards his goals.

~~~

Sycamore mainly focused on Lysandre’s plan more than his work. He just barely passed, but he didn’t mind that much. He slowly started to shift to working on the plan with Lysandre more and more, rather than work at his studies (the only reason why he still did it was because Lysandre didn’t want him to give up being a professor).

When he did become a pokémon professor, he was actually ecstatic about it (it reawaken the spark within him of why he even wanted the job). He still always made time for Lysandre though, spending lots of time in his new café that he had got, talking about the Ultimate Weapon.

It almost felt weird, how he was able to do his normal work as a professor, and take care of pokémon, while later talking and planning the end of the world, to keep all beautiful things preserved, then act as if he never planned and talked about it during the next day. It was almost like he was living two lives of sorts--one where he was a charming professor, and another where he planned to destroy all the evil of the world. All it was was acting--acting as if everything was normal, and that nothing was going on in the background of everything. He never did care about most of the work that came with being a professor; sure, he loved working with mega evolution and pokémon, but everything else--the paperwork, the conversations with people--he didn’t care about. But all he did was pretend, and act as if he did care, as if everything was fine and normal about him.

The more Sycamore and Lysandre talked about it, the more real this idea became. The idea of using the Ultimate Weapon became more and more real by the day. Lysandre even put a secret laboratory underneath his café, and talked about hiring or creating a group to help them (Team Flare was what he wanted to call it). Sycamore had once talked to his sister, Diantha, about it--he was just so excited about the idea of it, he wanted her to get on board. So when she got angry and confused, and told him that she honestly didn’t like his boyfriend, that she didn’t trust him, Sycamore was upset, to say the least.

He hadn’t talked to her since.

Soon, Lysandre made Team Flare a reality--many grunts, a good team of admins, a few scientists, and of course, Sycamore leading it right by his side. They even made the secret base in Geosenge; the town where the Ultimate Weapon was going to be. Everything was going great for the both of them--Lysandre had a nice time running and spending time in his café, Sycamore loved his work surrounding mega evolution, and the both of them loved working together, slowly getting closer and closer to their goal. 

They were getting so very close now, and Sycamore couldn’t wait.

~~~

“Wow, this place is very...red.” Calem and Serena entered Lysandre’s café, mostly just because they were exploring the city, but also to escape the cold and snow that had started to fall. They found one café that they hadn’t gone into yet, and when they learned that Lysandre owned it, they were interested. The two were surprised to find Sycamore there, though.

“Professor Sycamore?” Serena asked, causing him to look over his shoulder. He sat at one of the stools at the counter, cup of coffee in front of him. He still wore his white, pristine lab coat, along with his signature blood orange dress shirt.

“Oh, _bonjour,_ kids! What are you two up to?”

“Oh, we were just exploring around,” Calem explained, “and we saw this café that we’d never seen before, plus it’s owned by Lysandre, so we decided to check it out.” Sycamore gave a nod, taking a drink of his coffee.

“I see. Well, I usually come by this place once I’m done with work. It’s a pretty quiet café, nice to just relax, or get some extra work done. Why don’t you two join me, and take a quick break? Have a drink to warm you up from the cold.”

“Yes! I would kill for some hot chocolate right now,” Calem said, immediately sitting down at one of the stools next to Sycamore. Serena just gave a nod, and sat on the other side of Calem.

“Two cups of hot chocolate, please; for the kids,” Sycamore ordered, the woman behind the counter giving a nod, getting to work on the orders.

“So, this place is owned by Lysandre, huh?” Calem asked, looking around the place. Sycamore smiled, always happy to have the chance to talk about him.

“Yes, he does. We used to go here all the time, back when we were in college, spending our free time here, usually for studying, catching up, or...dates,” he said, the last part quieter, “it was just a nice place to be. Then, next thing I knew, he made the Holo Caster, and then bought this place.”  
  
“Why did he even buy this place, anyway?”

Sycamore paused, trying to think of an answer--it wasn't like he could just tell the kids that the main reason was so that they could have a secret base and laboratory where they could do all of their work and planning. “I’m not sure why he bought it,” he said, “it was a huge surprise to me, to say the least, but I was still excited about it--I was allowed to stay after hours, so that was nice.”

Serena gave a small thank you when she was given her mug of hot chocolate, and took a tiny sip of it. “Lysandre feels...weird. Like he’s hiding something,” Serena admitted, making Sycamore pause, just for a second, but continued the act.

“Yeah, no offense Professor, but Lysandre gives off some weird vibes,” Calem said, blowing some air onto his drink to cool it down. “I mean, he radiated these vibes as if he like, runs some weird cult-like thing or something that’s obsessed with making the world beautiful again and preserving beauty.”

“He _did_ seem a little obsessed with that when we were at that café with Diantha,” Serena said, giving a nod. “I mean, it’s a little concerning just how much he talked about it.”

“I mean, it’s interesting, is it not?” Sycamore asked. He knew that he probably shouldn’t go into this, and he should just keep pretending and nodding along; but he couldn’t help but talk about it. “The world _is_ full of evil, wouldn’t it be nice for it to...just be gone? Just have the beauty of the world?”

“I guess,” Serena said. “But you can’t really do that. _How_ would someone even go about doing that? Is it even possible to get rid of only the evil, or would you have to get rid of the beauty as well? Then that would be destroying everything.”

“Well, I don’t think that you can just get rid of evil, y’know? Like, it’s always gonna exist. If there’s beauty, then there’s evil. Isn’t that how that works? I’m pretty sure that’s how it works, anyway--there always needs to be both, not just one.”

Sycamore looked down at his drink, using all of his strength not to argue. He couldn’t risk raising suspicion; he couldn’t let people know that he and Lysandre were working on the plan. He couldn’t let the kids know--as much as he hates to admit it, even through all the acts and pretending to care, he had gotten attached to all of the kids, especially with Serena and Calem. He would hate himself if he ever got the kids involved in any of this.

Serena, finishing her hot chocolate, slid the mug over to the other side of the counter. “We should probably start heading out and get to Anistar.”

“Yeah, I suppose we should,” Calem said, giving a small sigh. “I really don’t wanna go back into the cold…” Finishing up the drink the two gave a smile and their goodbyes to Sycamore, leaving the café. He sat there, still sipping at his coffee, and couldn’t help but think of the kids’ words. Were they right? Would they be able to get rid of all of the evil, and only have and keep the world beautiful? Or would their plan fail…?

Sycamore shook his head, clearing his thoughts. No, he had no time for doubts, not now. They were too far gone, he couldn’t back down now. Lysandre needed him, he couldn’t back out of it now, especially if he was one of the main leaders of Team Flare.

He finished up the coffee, and promptly left. He walked back to the pokémon lab in a quick pace; only having a dress shirt and lab coat wasn’t good in that sort of weather. But he didn’t really notice the cold, all he focused on was going to the lab and continuing to plan. They had to act fast, the kids were too smart. 

He had to finish up and start the plan, and fast.

~~~

Sycamore had gotten good at acting.

"Professor Sycamore! Professor!" Sycamore looked up from his work, and over to the entrance, where Serena and Calem were, running in.

"What? What's wrong, are you kids alright?" he asked, feigning concern.

It was something he picked up on from his twin. She was always good at acting at a young age, and he just learned from her. 

"It's Lysandre, he's-"

Now Sycamore was actually paying attention. "What? What's wrong with Lys?"

"He's the leader of Team Flare."

He was almost as good as his sister; if not more. While she was able to act for the camera, he was acting all the time. Pretending to care, pretending to be surprised by certain things.

"W...what...?"

"Professor, I'm so, so sorry."

It was easy to feign all these emotions; to pretend to care, and say the right words and do the right acts at just the right time.

He had fun doing it, too.

"Professor, Calem and I are going after him--he's in Geosenge right now! He's gonna activate the Ultimate Weapon!”

Sycamore gave a nod. "You kids go on, I'll catch up!"

And as the kids ran out of the building, Sycamore couldn't help but give a small, devilish grin, and followed the kids.

This was going to be interesting.

~~~

Sycamore had arrived at Geosenge a little after the kids did. He wasn’t sure why Lysandre had started the plan without him there, or even telling him, but that was fine. He was sure that he had his reasoning. When he got there, he had to pause, a smile forming on his face when he saw the Ultimate Weapon. He had never seen it before until now.

And it was absolutely beautiful.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. RIght now, he had to focus. Entering the elevator, he couldn’t help but get excited by the idea of using the Ultimate Weapon. It was finally happening. When he finally entered the Secret HQ, he walked down the hallways, heading for the main control room. He then found one of the admins there.

“What’s been happening?” he asked, continuing to walk.

“Actually sir, I was given direct orders to-”

“Yes, well, now’s not the time,” Sycamore interrupted. “Where’s Lysandre and the kids? When is it going off? Did we use the power from Xerneas yet?”

“No, sir. The kids, Serena and Calem, stopped and captured the pokémon. They are currently battling Boss to get you out of here right away.”

He paused in his tracks, and looked over to the admin. “What? Calem and Serena are fighting Lys and he wants me to _leave?_ No, I’m going to help.”

As he continued to walk down the hallway, she followed. “Sir, it was a direct order that I-”

“And I’m giving you a direct order to leave me the hell alone so I can go help him!”

She grabbed onto his arm, stopping him. “Sir, you need to leave right now. Boss’s orders are higher than yours; you have to go, and I will use force if I have to.”

It went eerily silent, Sycamore giving the admin a cold stare. As afraid as she was, she knew that she couldn’t back down. “Let go of me,” he said, slowly and quietly that sent chills down her spine, “or I will make sure that you will regret everything that will come afterward.” He pulled his arm away from her grip, small scratches on his arm from her nails. He rubbed his arm, and sent her a glare. “I’m going to help him. I don’t care who I have to hurt, I _will_ have this plan go through.”

He continued to walk down, his steps echoing down the hallway. The admin gave a quiet curse, knowing that Lysandre wouldn’t be happy about this.

~~~

When he had entered the room, the other three in there didn’t even notice. It was two versus one--Lysandre versus Calem and Serena. Knowing that Lysandre wouldn’t be able to beat them alone, he was quick to call out his Blastoise, and use a powerful Hydro Pump on Calem’s Delphox.

“Good job, Blastoise,” Sycamore praised, happy to see that the delphox had fainted. Calem had quickly returned his pokémon, and turned around to face him.

“Professor Sycamore?” Serena said, “what are you doing?”

Lysandre’s eyes widened when he saw him there. “Augustine, why are you here? I told the admin to-”

“Yes, yes, she tried to get me to leave,” he said. “I’m pretty upset as to why you would want me not to be here--it was _our_ plan, I was supposed to be by your side. But I suppose that that doesn’t matter anymore; I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Professor, what’s happening?” Sycamore gave a small chuckle at Serena’s question--he knew that she was a smart kid, she knew what was happening. She just didn’t want to admit it. Calem, on the other hand, could only stare at him, sadness clear in his eyes--Sycamore’s felt a small stab through his heart when he looked at the young boy’s eyes, but ignored it.

“Children, I really am truly sorry for what is about to happen,” Sycamore said, “but I’m afraid that I cannot allow you to stop us with our plan.”

“How long?” Calem asked, his voice small, but filled with emotion. “How long have you been working with him, pretending that you didn’t know and leaving us clueless, only pretending to care about us?” Serena put her hand onto his shoulder, as if to try to calm him down.

Another pain through his heart. “I--I care about you kids so much,” Sycamore said, “I promise you my dear boy, I truly cared about you and the others. It was wonderful to watch you kids go through your journey, I was rooting for all of you throughout the entire thing. So please don’t think that I never cared about you or Serena or any of the others, because that’s not true.

“I’ve been working with Lysandre since the very start. I...know that you two will never forgive me for this, and I understand that. As much as I hate that I did this to you two, I’m afraid that I can’t let you get in the way of our plans. We’ve got too far to be stopped now. I won’t let you two stop everything we worked so hard for.”

“Augustine…” Lysandre said, voice low. “You shouldn’t be here. I thought-”

“And I thought we were supposed to work together until the very end, but clearly you thought differently.” He gave a sigh, and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter right now. What matters now is making sure everything goes according to plan.”

“We won’t let you do this,” Serena said. “We’ll stop you!”

“You keep on fighting Lysandre, I’ll take on the professor,” Calem said, taking out one of his pokéballs. “Let’s go, Jolteon!”

The battle with Sycamore was a lot more difficult than Calem expected. Dealing with his Venusaur was harder to deal with than the others, but his Mega Garchomp was the real problem. He didn’t have any pokémon that would be effective against it; all he had left was his Absol. Quick to pull out his Mega Ring, Calem knew that the best strategy was to Mega Evolve his Absol, then...hope for the best. Because he honestly wasn’t sure how he could really win this battle. Serena, on the other hand, was having a better time than he was. Lysandre’s Mega Gyrados was easier to take care of than expected, her Chesnaught and Mega Lucario dominating the battle. Serena turned around when she heard something, and saw that Calem was cheering as Sycamore’s Garchomp fell down, fainted.

Returning his pokémon, Sycamore gave a tiny scoff, refusing to meet the kids gaze, eyes trained on the ground. “Professor, please! You two don’t have to do this!” Serena said, “we can figure this all out, it doesn’t have to be this way.”

“But it does,” Lysandre said, then gave a sigh. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we can’t make this world as beautiful as we planned. Our plans to rid of all the evil was flawed from the beginning. But it’s too late now; the weapon will still go off with the little energy it has from Xerneas.” A few moments later, the ground shook.

“We--we have to get out of here,” Calem said, looking over to Serena. “‘Rena, we need to get going, now.” He turned over to Sycamore. “Professor, you’re coming with us!”

Sycamore was quickly rushed past the kids, over to Lysandre. “Lys, _les enfants_ are right--we have to get going. The place will come down once the Ultimate Weapon goes off!”

“I know, Augustine.” Sycamore honestly couldn’t understand how Lysandre could be so calm at that moment. The ground under them shook once more, the Ultimate Weapon almost ready to go off. “I’m staying here.”

Sycamore’s eyes widened, quick to grab his hand. “What? _Chèri,_ we don’t have time for jokes, we need to get going, right now.”

Lysandre was quiet for a few moments. “I still prefer the blue dress shirt,” he said, rubbing his thumb against the fabric of the dress shirt, the blood orange color now dirtied from the dust. Sycamore gave his hand a small squeeze, and gave a small smile that was full of dread, just wanting to leave the area. Lysandre looked over to the kids. “Calem, Serena, please take Augustine out with you. I...don’t want for him to get hurt.”

“What? No! Lysandre, you’re coming with us.” Lysandre pulled Sycamore into a hug, placing a kiss on his forehead.

“Please go,” he murmured into the bangs of his hair, holding him close. “I don’t want to see you hurt because of me.”

Calem grabbed onto Sycamore’s arm. “Professor, we need to go, right now! Lysandre, please, just come with us!”

“I’m afraid not,” he said, with a shake of his head, letting go of Sycamore. “I was the one that started this, and I shall stay until the very end. The building shook once more.

“The weapon’s gonna go off any minute!” Serena called out, near the exit of the room. “We need to get going!” As Calem started to go over there, he was surprised to see that Sycamore wasn’t fighting back; he just let him practically drag him over to the exit, and over to the elevator. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Sycamore started to pick up the pace, always looking over his shoulder, just wishing, _hoping_ that maybe Lysandre was following right behind them.

Every time he looked back, he saw nothing.

By the time the three of them got outside, the Ultimate Weapon was about to go off. They got back, watching behind the stone arch at the entrance of the small town. The Weapon started to glow, and sent out a giant, bright red beam into the sky. They watched it as it pierced through the clouds, and after a few moments, it came crashing back down. They braced against the stones, feeling dust and debris hit against them, as the ground shook. Sycamore looked over, and watched as the Ultimate Weapon fell underneath, back down from where it came. He had to say, it did certainly hurt, to watch all of his- _-Lysandre’s-_ -hard work go to waste. Everything they planned, everything they worked towards, was gone in a flash.

Once the ground stopped shaking, and everything was eerily quiet, he felt a tug on his sleeve. “Professor, we should probably get going now,” Serena said, Calem giving a nod from the other side of the archway. 

“Just--just one moment, please. _J'ai besoin d'un moment seul, s'il te plaît.”_ Serena paused for a few moments, then gave a small nod, letting him go. Shakily walking over to the giant pit that was in the middle of the destroyed town, he couldn’t help but look down into it; staring down at the pitch blackness, he felt tears well up in his eyes. Falling down to his knees, he felt the tears roll down his face, as he kept repeating the same images in his head over and over again. The plan was lost. He had failed what they planned to do for so long.

He had failed Lysandre.

~~~

When it was official that Lysandre was dead, Sycamore felt his world shatter around him.

He was able to keep his title of professor, but he wasn’t sure how; people hated him, _everyone_ did, so why they let him keep the job was a mystery to him. He could never focus during the day, though. His mind always went back to Lysandre. It was hard to work, barely ever getting anything done. He really couldn’t focus on anything anymore.

Team Flare was gone, but he didn’t care about that. He stopped going to Lysandre’s café--it wasn’t even his anymore. It belonged to someone else, and he didn’t dare to go near the place; it would only bring back memories.

Sycamore never saw the kids--he didn’t _want_ to see them. He didn’t want to face their judgement against him and everything that had happened. He didn’t talk to his sister, either; Diantha was always calling him, more and more by each passing day, but he never answered. He didn’t want to admit that she was right, that what he was doing was bringing him down a dangerous path--he didn’t want to see her judgement, either.

So, when there was knocking at his door, Sycamore was a little surprised. He assumed that they didn’t want to see him, either; he knew that most people were angry or hated him for what happened. Why were they different?

When he opened the door, he was met with a kind smile from Serena. She wore a fuzzy, winter coat and scarf, and held a small box. “Hey, Professor! It’s been awhile since I’ve seen you, I wanted to see how you were holding up.” Sycamore looked around, noticing that it was only her.

“Where’s Calem?” he asked.

“Oh, he’s currently busy right now, but he’s coming over soon!” She shifted her weight one foot to the other, still giving a kind, but somewhat anxious smile. “Is it alright that I come in?”

“Oh--yeah, yeah of course, dear,” he said, immediately moving out the way, letting her in. He closed the door behind her, as she took off her boots, that led a small trail of snow when she walked in.

“I hope you don’t mind that I came over without any announcement,” she said, taking off her scarf and heavy jacket, leaving them on the nearby coat hanger, as well as placing down the box on the dining table, along with her mittens.

“Oh, it’s--it’s fine. Please excuse any messes, I haven’t had any time to clean up.”

“Professor, your house is lovely! Besides, I don’t blame you--wasn’t like I gave you any heads up about me coming over.” 

“Thank you, Serena. And like I said, it’s fine,” Sycamore said, giving a small smile. Though, Serena could tell that the smile was fake. She’s seen real smiles from him before--he always had the brightest smiles when he talked about mega evolution, or his work with pokémon--but that smile, Serena knew it was fake, that he was feigning happiness. Even his eyes, that once used to be full of life and practically sparkled, now seemed dull. His wavy hair was more crazy than usual, as if he hadn’t brushed or combed it. But the most notable difference she saw was the outfit. He always wore his blood orange dress shirt, it was rare to see him wear something different. But now, he wore a deep blue dress shirt that was crisp, as if he hadn’t worn it in a very long time.

Serena gave a smile, just hoping that hopefully the visit would help cheer him up. “Anyway, I brought you something!” Opening the box, she revealed many macarons, each row of them a different color. “I made them myself. Well, Calem helped a little,” she admitted. “I know that your favorite desserts were macarons, and I also remember that you were a fan of sweeter flavors, so each different flavor is from different, sweet, berries. There’s Pecha, Mago, Kasib, and Wacan!”

He stared at the sweets for a few moments, then gave a true, genuine smile as he brushed his hair away from his eyes. “Oh, _Je vous remercie,_ Serena. I don’t deserve these--I don’t deserve _you,_ or Calem. You two are so sweet.”

“No, Professor. After everything you’ve been through you definitely deserve these.” There was a knock at the front door, making her pause. “Oh, that must be Calem,” she said. “Help yourself to one of them, I’ll go get the door!” Before Sycamore could say anything, she already left, heading towards the door. Sycamore gave a small smile, and grabbed one of the pink macarons.

The sweetness of the pecha berry was wonderful to him, he missed the taste of it so much. Sycamore loved pecha flavored sweets, they were always one of his favorites.

“Professor, Calem’s here!” Serena said, making Sycamore turn around. Calem gave a friendly wave, as he took off his coat, which still had some snow on it.

  
“Heya, Professor! We brought someone else here, too,” he said. Before he could ask, he saw her walk through the door. She gave a small, friendly smile, as she took off her pink peacoat and her purple mittens, leaving her with just her white dress, that had pink fur trimming. Her light brown hair was neatly styled, fluffy and wavy hair not in her face, but neatly brushed into a side swept bang style.

_“Bon après-midi, mon cher frère,”_ Diantha greeted. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Sycamore stared at her, almost not believing that she was actually there. When was the last time he actually saw his sister, his _twin_ , in person…? He hadn’t even talked to her since their fight, much less seen her…

“Hello, Diantha,” he greeted, voice shaky, not entirely sure what to say.

“...We’ll just let you two talk,” Serena said. “C’mon Calem, I forgot, I need to pick up some things at the grocery store--we’ll come by later, okay?”  
  


“I never even got to eat a macaron…and I just came in, too,” Calem said with a sigh, but grabbed his things, and left the house with her, leaving only Diantha and Sycamore.

“Your shirt,” Diantha commented, after moments of (slightly) awkward silence. “You’re wearing the blue one.”

“Oh, yes, I am,” Sycamore said, looking away from her gaze. “I...guess I just wanted to wear something different, y’know?”

She gave a small nod, going over to grab one of the macarons. “I’ve always liked this one better, anyway. Better than that blood orange shirt. It brings out your eyes.”

Sycamore paused.

_“Your blue dress shirt, I like that one better.”_

_“Hm?”_

_“I prefer that over your red one. It brings out your eyes and your natural beauty more than this one.”_

_  
_ “August? Are you okay?”

“I--yeah, I’m fine,” he said, taking a deep breath, and gave a shaky smile. “I’m completely fine. I just…” He felt his sister’s arms wrap around him, giving him a tight squeeze of a hug. He slowly wrapped his arms in return, tears threatening to fall.

“I’m sorry about all of this, August. I should’ve reached out to you earlier, and not have waited until something like this happened. I know that you were close with Lysandre, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

Tears were starting to fall, as he let out a tiny sob into her shoulder. “I loved him so much, Dia. If I hadn’t gone with the plan, maybe if I saw the flaws to his plan in the beginning, then this wouldn’t have happened. If-”

“Hey, no. None of that right now,” she said, cupping her brother’s face, and brushing the tears off his cheeks. “None of this is your fault, and you know that, _mon frère cadet._ You can’t blame yourself for this, I know Lysandre wouldn’t want you to do that.” He didn’t say anything, as he shook her off, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

“I think...I just need time by myself for a while,” he said, grabbing the box of macarons and sitting down on the couch.

Diantha frowned. “August, you haven’t talked to anyone in days, you’ve barely even been going to work. I really think you should talk about it-”

“Diantha, I really don’t want to, okay? Maybe another time, but not right now.”  
  
“If you don’t talk about it now, then when will you? You _have_ to talk about this at some point!”

Sycamore gave a small huff, and took a bit of one of the wacan macarons. “You know, when you say that, ‘I know Lysandre wouldn’t want you to do that’, how would you know, hm? It isn’t like you’ve ever met him before.”

She took a deep breath, not wanting to lose her patience with her brother. “Augustine, if he cared about you--and I know he does; you never let yourself fall this hard for a person unless they share the same feelings--then I _know_ that he wouldn’t have wanted you to suffer, or to put the blame on yourself. He would’ve wanted you to continue your life, and be happy.” Sycamore didn’t say anything, just continued to eat on the macaron. _“Please_ August, at least talk to me.I know that you’re hurting, and I want to help you.”

Sycamore gave a sigh. “Please, Diatha, could we continue this another day? I just...need a break today, and just rest.”

She gave a sigh. “Fine,” Diantha said, finally caving in. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? We can eat dinner together and catch up; it’s been a while since we did that.”

He gave a small smile. “Yes, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ll have to plan a special dinner then,” he gave a small chuckle, “actually, it’s been a while since I’ve even eaten anything proper…”

“Well then, I guess we’ll have to make sure that that changes tomorrow, huh?” Checking the time, she gave a small sigh. “Listen, I have to get going. But I will be here tomorrow for dinner, six o’clock sharp, okay?”

“Yes, yes, alright,” he said, getting up, and giving his sister a hug. “I’ll be sure to clean up and make food for you to eat. _Restez en sécurité là-bas.”_

“I will,” she said, returning the hug. _“Prends juste soin de toi,_ please.”

“I’ll try.” Diantha gave a nod, heading for the door. Once she had her jacket and mittens, she gave her twin one final hug, and left. Sycamore stood there for a few moments in silence, then gave a sigh. He was more tired and drained from the whole interaction than he thought--and even though he didn’t really want to admit it, he was happy that his sister and the kids visited. 

Laying on the couch, he stared up at the ceiling, thinking. He knew that he had a lot to do the next day--cooking the food, cleaning up the house--he knew he should get a head start on these things, but he was too tired to. When was the last time he got proper sleep? He always had a cup of coffee on him, and the closest thing he ever got to sleep was a small one-hour nap, but that was interrupted by a nightmare.

Once he had closed his eyes, drowsiness swept over him quickly. Sycamore gave a soft smile to himself, holding onto the smallest hope that he would be able to get some decent amount of sleep.

Maybe then things would start to look up for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished this!! This took so long, I had this idea in my head for a very long time, and I am so happy that I got to share this. I loved the Flare!Sycamore AU for a long time now, I am so happy that I made this :)
> 
> I really hope that you enjoyed this fic! Kudos and comments are always appreciated. Thank you!


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